The shifters woman
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: He was the alpha of the lupine shifters.An outcast from humanity forced to live in a place full of others of his dying race.Females are rare.Children Uzu was the outcast human living in Shiftertown.Kakashi's neighbor,and packmate by proxy.Fem naru/kakashi
1. Chapter 1

Kakashi Hatake's evening had just begun in the little bar in the farthest corner of Arizona where he worked as a bar tender, serving beer and other drinks plus a small variety of foods to his patrons. He had just handed one of his friends a beer, a shifter by the name of Genma, a feline and second in command to the panther alpha.

Asuma Sarutobi.

"How's it going Gen?" Kakashi asked as he moved to pick up a glass that another customer had left a little while ago without drinking all of his drink.

"It's going fine. How's it going on your end?"

"Same old, same old." Kakashi said as he tossed back the drink that he had just picked up, he didn't see any use in letting the whiskey go to waste since there was no one around to drink it. And since he didn't have to worry about catching any human diseases, then he had nothing to fear from downing the drink that a stranger left behind.

"Really? Hn, I thought that you would be a little on edge with a human moving into the neighborhood-" Genma said as he tossed back his drink. Kakashi started to laugh and say something when Genma's words sank in and his grip on the glass in his hand loosened causing the glass to fall to the floor at his feet and shatter into tiny little slivers as Kakashi turned wide mis matched eyes to his friend and croaked.

"W-What?" What the hell did Genma mean there was a human moving into the neighborhood? This was Shifter town for fuck sake! There weren't suppose to be any humans living in Shifter town unless they were mated to one of the shifters.

And most shifters didn't like humans. Not since they had been forced to move out of the cities and onto the state land that the alpha's had bought for them to live on in peace, away from the human populations; since they had been declared a threat to others.

Genma looked at the silver haired lupine with a bemused expression on his face. Kakashi looked shell shocked. Weird since he normally knew all of the goings on in Shifter town. But then Genma only knew about the human, because the former lupine alpha, Sakumo Hatake had mentioned something about the human moving into town several days ago and had asked several of the other alpha's to keep their men away from the human for two reasons.

1) The human was a _mature_ female.

And 2) There were so _few_ females to mate with that whoever saw the little female might instantly decide to make a mate-claim.

Which might lead to fighting among others who might take a liking to her as well. Sakumo had been very clear about his request, and had even gone a little further and mentioned that since the female would be living in the lupine's territory, she would be considered a part of their pack and under their protection. Which meant that any male that was seen sniffing around the female without permission from the her, would be dealt with painfully.

Genma was guessing that the only reason that Kakashi didn't know about the human before now was because he had been out of town on lupine business until a few hours ago and simply hadn't had the time to check in with his father yet. "What human?"

"The one moving into your territory." Genma said evasively as he tossed back another drink. He didn't know much about humans, but he did know this. Any human female crazy enough to leave the cities and towns that she was born and raised in for an entirely different city full of creatures that were more animal than human, was either completely and utterly_ insane_ or incredibly_ brave_.

Kakashi made a strange throaty sound that could have been a growl, maybe, and fisted his hands at his sides as his finger nails lengthened into claws and fur bristled along the back of his hands as his eyes started to glow an eerie deep blue and deep red to match the color of his eyes. Anger etched into his sinful, savagely beautiful features.

Genma made a funny sound in the back of his throat and mentally went over what he _should_ and _shouldn't_ say to the lupine alpha. Either way he looked at things he was going to have a knot jerked in his tail. If not by Kakashi then by his father, Sakumo.

Both of which he wasn't looking forward too, but as the current alpha of the lupines in the area; Kakashi had the right to know who was moving into_ his_ territory.

Kakashi made another throaty sound, this one louder, the sound vibrating in the lupines chest as he took several deep breaths to calm himself down. He needed to listen with a clear mind. "What human?" Kakashi asked again, more softly this time, his mind abuzz with questions.

"I'm not completely sure but I think the human is Iruka Umino's adopted sibling." Genma finally said. Kakashi blinked and tilted his head to the side a little bit, his silver hair falling in his face, partially hiding one of his eyes as he tried to recall hearing anything about Iruka's adopted sibling.

Iruka was a panther that had mated one of the lupine males, Kotetsu.

About a five years ago, before he had been mated. Iruka had gotten into some trouble with some humans outside of Shifter town. He'd been found out as a shifter, drugged and dragged into an abandoned lot late in the middle of the night and was beaten severely by a group of human males after which one of them had pulled a knife and had started to cut the shifter up when someone had intervened and saved the panther from being _skinned alive_ and left for dead.

The rest of the details in Kakashi's mind were fairly sketchy, but because Iruka had been saved by a human and couldn't be treated in a human hospital. The human had carefully moved him to a car and had driven him all the way back to Shifter town, risking life and limb to save him from bleeding out from his wounds.

Once Iruka had healed, he had left Shifter town once again this time to look for his savior and had found the human and established a bond with them. Adopting the human as his sibling which in itself was a risky process for obvious reasons.

Shifters just didn't do well with humans. Having humans around was bad for them as a collective whole.

Because if anything happened to the human, the government would not hesitate to attack them and wipe them off of the face of the earth. Kakashi remained quiet for several heart beats before asking, "Who approved the human to live in Shifter town?" Because it was impossible for a human to move out of their territories and into Shifter town without permission from an alpha or two.

Genma cringed. Not really knowing what to tell him because he didn't know who had approved the females presence. "No clue."

"When does the human get here?" Kakashi asked curiously, he needed to know so that he could meet the fool and lay down some ground rules for living in Shifter town. Genma was quiet for a second. Weighing the pros and con's of telling the lupine that the woman was already in town and was currently busy unpacking her things and settling into her new home, which was coincidentally in the house right across from Kakashi's own.

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Well here is the first chapter of my latest story.

Can you tell that I'm feeling a bit better? I've been writing like mad.

I've updated my stories.

Animals

Craving Touch

Blackmail

Immortal Guardian

And I think a few more. Isn't it pathetic that I can't recall them all?

Anyways as always, please read this and let me know what you think. I was sort of making myself dizzy with all the thinking that I had to do to put some detail into this chapter and it will only get better (or worse) as I go along.

I'll also need some help coming up with a name for this story. But I'm not sure what to call it just yet so any input you all can give me would be awesome.

Thanks and later.


	2. Chapter 2

Genma hadn't answered his last question. He had however slapped a few bills on the bar and then hurriedly excused himself and run out of the bar before Kakashi could so much as grab the bastard. Leaving the lupine standing there with his lips curled back from his teeth in a feral expression that did _not_ bode well for Genma the next time that he saw him. The damn fur ball. Kakashi thought darkly as he lifted a hand and waved over one of the other servers working tonight.

Genma's reaction to his question made him think that the human was already in Shifter town. And if that was so, then it was his duty to go check the human out and make sure that the more fragile creature had everything that he needed to survive. Food. Blankets. Clothes. Water.

Which meant that he may end up offering the little cur a bed in his home for the next night or two until he was settled.

Once the other guy was at the bar Kakashi issued a quick order for him to take over for him and walked around the counter and made a beeline for the door. Anxious to meet the human and get things over with.

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Uzu Namikaze never in a million years would have thought that she would one day uproot herself and move into a Shifter town. But after a long conversation with her adopted brother, a panther shifter named Iruka Umino, the man and his mate had told her that maybe it might be for the best considering the circumstances.

The circumstances being that she had found her home in shambles one day after a trip to the market to get some food and had found an ominous note written in dog's blood on one of her apartment walls.

**I'm coming for you-**

That was it. There was nothing more to the note. Nothing that explained why her home had been targeted. Nothing to explain why, someone was 'coming' for her. It was weird to say the least, and she hadn't been able to provide any clues to the identity of the one who had broken into her home and wrecked everything. All she knew was that someone had broken the illusion of safety and security she had worked _so _damn hard to obtain, and scared the ever loving hell out of her.

News of the break in had upset Iruka and his mate as well.

Which was why Iruka had told her to start packing her things, that she was moving to Shifter town where he could protect her. She hadn't cared much for the way that he had said it, it had sounded so much like an order wrapped around a softly veiled threat. But she hadn't argued with the panther, knowing that he only wanted to keep her safe and had done as he had asked/ordered her to do while he and his mate had obtained permission for her to move into their territory.

She sighed and sat back with a handful of books in her hands and quickly started to put them on the shelf that she had set up a little while ago and nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt the presence of someone standing directly behind her in the door way and turned her head a little bit and saw the lupine shifter that had paid her a visit a few days after the break in.

Sakumo Hatake was a very, _very_ old school sort of man for one so young.

He was polite, well spoken, had gentlemanly tendencies towards females. And he scared the hell out of her.

At three hundred years of age, the man looked no older than thirty four, his long silver hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was tall, standing nearly six foot eight, his body powerfully built with corded muscle over velvety skin. His clothes consisted of skin tight black jeans, combat boots, and a dark cotton shirt.

His dark blue eyes staring at her unblinking.

He had a predators stare. She tightened her grip on the books in her hand to keep her hands from shaking a little bit as a small tremor went through her as his eyes flickered from her to the partially set up room before moving back to her. "Invite me in." He said in a velvety soft voice after a second or so of silence.

Uzu made a funny noise in the back of her throat. "This home is on your land. I'd imagine that you could come and go anywhere when ever you please-" She said as she slowly set the books aside and got to her feet. This time his unblinking stare didn't pin her in place.

"I can and usually do. But your a human, and humans expect manners and civility." Sakumo said with a small smile, a little amused by her words.

Uzu made another sound and walked over to the door and stopped just an inch or so from him and tipped her head back to meet his unnerving stare for several seconds, then said. "Please come in." She used such polite words for someone so wary of him. Yet the fact that she refused to let him see her cower was interesting to him.

He nodded his head a little bit and quietly moved into the room as she stepped back out of the way, probably thinking that he might step on her if she didn't get out of the way. He mumbled a small thank you to her and made his way to the middle of the room and looked around, studying her things along with the way she had the furniture placed.

He had expected the room to be a mess. What with the moving boxes piled everywhere, but to his surprise the living room wasn't a mess at all. The empty boxes had already been taken apart and stuffed in the trash, the objects that had been contained in the boxes were already neatly in place. Books in the book shelves, movies in their own personal place, pictures on the walls, vases on their shelves.

There were five book shelves in all in the living room, one for movies and four more full of nothing but books. Three coffee tables, all of them a softly painted, glossy cherry wood. Two of them were neatly placed on either side of the cream colored couch with two little table lamps set up on them, then third table was set in the middle of the room at a comfortable distance from the couch, between the chair and the area where she had set up her TV.

She still needed to put up the curtains and a few other things. But all in all the room looked good. Very comfortable and cozy. So much so that he wondered if she would mind if he shifted and curled up on the floor somewhere to take a nap.

"The room looks good. Have you set up the others yet?" He asked both out of curiosity and necessity since he had come over to offer her his services to help her get unpacked and settled. Humans could say what they wanted about shifters, but they were very good at hospitality when they were of a mind to be.

Uzu blinked at his question and felt a little nervous about answering. As harmless as his question might appear to be, she didn't really want a stranger going through her new home, and her things, even if it was for an innocent reason. "Uh...yeah actually. Iruka and Kotetsu were over earlier and helped put the bedroom and kitchen together and stuff." Uzu said lightly, not wanting to offend him.

Sakumo glanced at her for a second then nodded his head before asking. "What about the spare room?" And Uzu cringed a little bit. She had decided to make the spare bedroom a hobby room so that she could paint and work on other things in peace. Which was why she had dragged her things upstairs, but hadn't really tackled any of the boxes in the room yet. She sort of wanted to take her time and settle in before she went through those boxes.

"I...uh...I sort of haven't done anything with it yet." Uzu said lamely when she couldn't think up a decent lie.

"Shall I-"Sakumo started to ask as he turned to walk through the kitchen to the stairs but stopped when she grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled on it. He turned his head a little bit to look at her again as she let go of his shirt and sort of fidgeted for a moment before putting her hands behind her back and giving him a nervous smile.

"No. Please no-" Sakumo tilted his head a little bit to the side. It was obvious that she didn't want him going through her things, but it was sort of his job despite the fact that he was no longer the alpha of the lupines, he just couldn't keep himself from _still_ feeling responsible for his pack. And that feeling of responsibility now included this woman.

Even if he was no longer the alpha, he still had a job to do and he had given his word that he would help Iruka protect this female. That meant making sure that she had a job, enough money to pay bills, food and everything else that she might need.

He thinned his lips a little bit then reached out and put one hand on top of her head and gently ruffled her hair to show that he wasn't upset with her or anything. Making sure to keep his touch as light as possible so that he didn't accidentally hurt her. "Very well. I understand that having someone you hardly know going through your things is...an invasion of sorts. Since you will not allow me to help you unpack, then how about I fix you something for dinner instead?"

Uzu flushed a little bit as he ran his palm over the top of her head and stuttered a little bit. It wasn't that she had a problem with him fixing her something to eat or anything, she was just having some trouble resisting the urge to ask him if he was going to kill their dinner himself or not. Because if so then she probably wouldn't eat anything on the basis that it could be covered in wolf drool.


	3. Chapter 3

Kakashi stood outside of the colonial style white house next door to his own home, staring at the place as if he'd like to burn it to the ground while he looked for any signs of someone being inside. It took a moment, but he could smell two distinct scents from inside the house, one scent belonged to his father. The smell of sable, moss with the soft under tones of leather and sweat was a dead give away.

The other scent however was strange, one that he had never smelled before. The scent was feminine. It was simply too sweet to belong to a male and consisted of almonds, cream and honey suckle with the soft hint of wild orchids.

The scent wafted through the still night air, teasing his senses with images of silk sheets and all the naughty things that could be done in them. He made a soft growling sound and walked forward intending to see if the scent was really coming from the house when he caught sight of his father standing in the kitchen with a young woman with silvery blond hair that fell to the middle of her back, soft smooth peach colored skin, pale pink lips, a petite, delicate build, and lush curves.

He looked her over, he couldn't help himself. It was simply a part of his genetics that went all the way back to the cave man days. She was tall for a female, he figured that she stood at about five foot nine, her head just barely reaching his father's chest. Her clothes consisted of a simple amethyst long sleeved knit sweater and a pair of tight faded to white jeans that looked so damn _beguiling_ on her.

He was about to go and knock on the open door when his father looked at him, having noticed that he was standing outside because he had caught his scent and let his hand fall away from the woman's head and crooked his finger at him, indicating that he wanted Kakashi to join them.

Uzu could sense another shifter. She could sense them by the way the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and by the sudden chill she got. "Someone else is here-" It wasn't a question. She knew that if anyone could confirm her sudden feeling of dread it was Sakumo. He had probably smelled the other shifter before she had spoken anyways.

Sakumo looked down at her, noting how tense she was and felt a little badly for her before answering. "It's my son, the current alpha of the pack." She blinked at him and muttered in a slightly dark tone.

"I didn't know that you had a son."

Sakumo gave her an indulgent smile and leaned down and said softly in a hushed, half joking, conspirators tone. "He embarrasses me so I often pretend that I don't know him." She gaped at him with a slightly horrified expression on her lovely face as he chuckled and winked at her and walked across the room to the door and stopped just in front of his son.

"Dad." Kakashi said as they locked eyes for a moment. His father smiled at him and looked away before stepping in close and kissing Kakashi on the top of his head before saying something about needing to get some things out of his car and walking outside so that Kakashi could introduce himself to the pretty little human.

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Uzu couldn't help but feel even more nervous around the guy standing just in her living room staring her down. The man was almost an exact carbon copy of his father. He had the same face, the same soft silver hair, though his was styled shorted in the back and left long in the front. His eyes were different. One a deep blue like his fathers and the other a vivid red with a thin jagged scar running down the eye lid to the curve of his cheek.

The same build. He was slightly smaller in height than his father and probably stood at six foot six inches and was decked out in black leather pants a short sleeved skin tight black shirt, and combat boots. The man was just as _hot_ as his father. Which begged the question, what made shifter males so damn beautiful? Was it something in the water? Something in the food? Or was it simply an animal thing?

"So your the human." It wasn't really a question. And he wasn't really talking to her either. He was talking to himself.

"Uh...yeah."

"I thought you'd be a male." He said with a small frown as he looked her over from head to toe with his unblinking eyes. There was something about his tone, something about he said the words that made her feel as if he had just insulted her.

She narrowed her eyes at him a little bit and had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something along the lines of, _"Oh? I thought you'd be a male too." _But she figured that it would be for the best to hold her insults since she didn't know this man or his temperament. At least with Sakumo, she had known his intentions before inviting him in.

The man wouldn't have needed an invite if he had come there to rip her head off or something. He would have just walked in and killed her then walked out like nothing had happened.

"But since your not a male, I should probably make a mate-claim or something to protect you from the other shifters." The man said as he lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck, his mis matched eyes never straying from her face. She blinked at him and frowned, unsure of what he was talking about for a second before it dawned on her what he was talking about.

He knew the moment that his words finally sank in, because she had gotten a murderous look on her pretty face and tipped her head back a little bit and looked-no that was too tame a word-she stared him down like she'd like to throw him to the ground and rub his nose in the dirt.

Which was sort of funny, really, considering how small and delicate she was compared to him.

But she had such a fierce look that he felt himself start to take an involuntary step back, his self preservation instincts telling him that despite her frailty and her gender, this female _would_ and _could _hurt him if she was really of a mind too.

"And what exactly is a mate-claim?"

"I-It's where a guy more or less claims a woman as his mate-" Kakashi said and immediately took three steps back when the woman took _two_ threatening steps forward, and quickly said. "But there are two parts to a mate-claim. The first part is claiming a woman as yours and the second part is more or less a ritual courtship to see if you both suite each other. The basic function of a mate-claim is to keep others from sniffing around someone else's female until she's mated. It's a measure of protection against unwanted suitors."

"And how exactly is that supposed to protect me?" Uzu hissed at him like a cat, making Kakashi back away from her a little more.

There was something very interesting about this woman. Kakashi mused as he backed away from the furious female.

It was rare for someone of the fairer sex to be able to look him in the eyes, and the ones that did, were often other alphas like himself. Yet this _female_, this child like, and fragile beauty was backing him into a corner using nothing but that angry expression on her face and a few steps forward.

It was mind boggling that _any_ human would be able to do such a thing. But she was.

_And that makes her both interesting and dangerous._ Kakashi thought as he shook his head slightly and answered her as his back hit the wall. "It will protect you because there are only a small handful of people in Shifter town who would dare to get close to you if I had claimed you as mine. Getting too close would be considered a challenge that could end up getting someone killed. Besides, a mate-claim is in name only until your scent is mingled with an others."

Uzu was quiet for a second or so as she went over what few facts she knew about shifters in her mind. His words made sense in a weird way if one considered how few shifter females were, it was only natural to make an automatic mate-claim on the only female of breeding age, around for miles.

After all if she walked around town, she'd have to have someone with her to protect her or fighting would break out among the other shifters. Still, that didn't mean that she wanted to be mate-claimed. In fact she found the idea wholly idiotic and insulting to her as a modern woman. But if it was for her own safety then there was little that she could do except accept his mate-claim and be grateful that he was willing to even bother trying to help her.


	4. Chapter 4

Hatake Sakumo was a sly old wolf who took his duties and responsibilities to his pack and his friends very seriously. And the sudden decrease in females in the last hundred years or so was definitely something that he had been looking into since he wanted his son to mate and have cubs of his own one day in the near future. Which was part of the reason why he had sought out the human female Umino had adopted as his sibling.

He had been curious about what sort of woman, a human no less, would risk life and limb to save a shifter being tortured to death by a group of men.

He had left Shifter town the day after the woman had brought Iruka back to be healed by the physicians in the Shifter built and operated hospital in the middle of their city like town. And had gone looking for the woman using the scent that he had gotten from a scarf that she had wrapped around one of Iruka's legs to stop the bleeding from where one of the men had peeled off a portion of his skin and found Uzu Namikaze working in an art gallery just several blocks from where Iruka had been attacked.

On impulse he had walked into the gallery and looked around while the woman had been in the back on her lunch break and had found out that not only did she work in the gallery but she _owned_ it too, and even had her own line of painting on display there too.

He had picked a small, card like watercolor painting of a pink, white and soft yellow colored rose with a little lavender and sky blue and mint green butterfly on one of the petals. All in all it was a rather lovely painting. Which was why he had bought it before leaving.

After that he had gone home and hidden the painting, then waited for his next chance to observe the woman. He had tracked her through the streets every morning and again on her way home every night and had noticed that she had some very peculiar habits and friends.

On one occasion he had seen her talking to a woman, a street walker by the way she was dressed and had seen her get between the woman and her angry pimp and drop the pissed off guy before he could lay his hands on the frightened woman.

And on another occasion he had seen her buying ice cream for some troubled teens and talking with them before she had walked off with them and he had followed her and been slightly surprised to find her in the court yard of a local youth center playing basket ball with them until it got too dark for them to stay out and play.

All in all she didn't seem to discriminate between people, species, skin color or gender. Which was why he had thought that perhaps she would do well among the shifters. Since she had helped Iruka, and obviously held no hostility towards their kind, Sakumo had formed a plan to remove her from the humans and place her near his pack so that she and his son would meet.

But that hadn't told him much about her at the time. So off and on for five years, he had tracked, and observed her before finally getting impatient and deciding that it was time that she became a part of his family.

He'd known from the moment that he broke into her apartment and wrecked it, that Iruka would throw a fit thinking that she was in danger and demand that she be allowed to move into their territory to live under Kakashi's protection. He'd also known from the moment that he went to introduce himself to her the night after the 'fake' break in that she would make his son one hell of a mate if he would just try to woo her.

He'd known it the second she had looked him in the eyes, that she was no weak simpering miss. She would be able to handle anything that they threw at her.

Which was why he found it so funny that Kakashi was backing away from her like she was rabid or something after mentioning his need to mate-claim her, to protect her from other shifters in desperate need of a mate.

Kakashi was the pack alpha, he wasn't supposed to back down or away from anyone or anything. Doing so was considered an act of weakness.

But Sakumo had done the same thing when he had first met Kakashi's mother. His self preservation instincts had simply refused to let him stand his ground before the tempting, dainty, little female that had held him in her thrall.

From the way Kakashi was reacting to Namikaze, he would guess that his son was obviously feeling overwhelmed by the woman's fury, and was unsure about how to react. No doubt he wanted to snap and snarl at her to get her to bow to his will, but things didn't always work that way for an alpha who had just met his future mate.

Uzu appeared to be the kind of woman who would tear a person apart if they stepped out of line with her. Which was good. It meant that she would do well among the pack.

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Kakashi wasn't sure how to react to being backed into a corner. Part of him wanted to lash out, to shift and pounce on the woman who had his trapped and make her bare her throat to him and acknowledge him as the leader. But part of him wanted to pounce on her for another reason entirely.

His blood felt overly warm in his veins, and his heart was thudding against his ribs in a peculiar fluttering pattern, and his skin suddenly felt _much_ _too tight_.

_What is this?_ Why did he feel so strangely?

**_It's what you would call chemistry fool. She defies you. Challenges you. And it turns you on. _**An unfamiliar voice echoed through his mind. Kakashi shook his head. No. That couldn't be true, Kakashi didn't enjoy being challenged. He was used to using force to get his way in almost _all_ situations.

He didn't do it because he wanted too. Or even because he liked too. He did it because as an alpha, he couldn't resist a challenge. It was simply a deeply rooted _part_ of his nature. Still...it was an interesting theory. And definitely something that he would want to examine more closely in the future.

The woman got quiet, and after a second or so seemed to calm herself down despite the fact that he could all but smell the tightly leashed rage under her skin. The scent was so strong that it made him want to sneeze.

God she had some issues, huh? "I'm sorry that you weren't told about the mate-claim thing before moving here." Kakashi said lamely before explaining. "Usually it would be done by the first male that set eyes on you. But it is _really_ for your protection."

"You don't have to explain it to me like an intellectual cripple. I know that there are only a handful of women shifters. It's just a bit offensive to find myself stuck in something similar to an arranged marriage with a total stranger-" Uzu said as she looked around, just now noticing that Sakumo Hatake was strangely absent. "And where did your father get off too? He asked to make me dinner then he disappears into thin air."

Kakashi didn't say anything as she walked over to the door and reached out absent mindedly and placed one hand against his upper arm without realising it and Kakashi stiffened a little bit as a jolt went through his system as she leaned out the door and looked around before spying Sakumo Hatake over by a car across the street, digging around in the trunk and pulling out some plastic bags.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hungry?" Sakumo asked innocently as he walked back into the house, pretending that he hadn't seen anything. Uzu reached out and took several of the heavy bags of food from one of his hands and muttered something inaudible under her breath as she turned and walked into the kitchen as Sakumo glanced at Kakashi.

"Will you be staying for dinner too? Or do you have to go back to work?"

Kakashi gave him a curious look then glanced in Uzu's direction and shook his head. "No. I don't have to go back just yet."

"Then you plan to stay?" Sakumo prompted, earning a suspicious look from his son. Kakashi knew that the elder Hatake was fishing for something. But for the moment he couldn't quite figure out what it was his father was fishing for. But he knew one thing for certain. If his father had taken an interest in the woman then he was definitely up to something. So it might be in the woman's best interest if he stuck around and got to know her while he tried to figure out what his dad was up too.

"Yeah. I'll stay."

Sakumo gave him a doting smile. "Wonderful! Then make yourself useful and go take the food from her before she puts something I may need somewhere. And while your at it, _tell her your name_." Sakumo said in a cheerful tone as he slipped an hand behind Kakashi and pulled him away from the wall so that he could nudge him in the direction of the kitchen to wrest the groceries that he had bought from Miss Namikaze.

Kakashi stumbled forward a little bit before catching himself and turning his head to give his dad a funny look before straitening his spine and walking into the kitchen behind the fiery tempered woman and carefully reached out and took a heavy can of spaghetti sauce from her hand before it could slip from her grasp and bashed her pretty little head in and promptly opened the cabinet over her head and set the can on the top shelf before she elbowed him in the stomach slightly to get him to back off.

He was in her personal space and she wasn't sure that she liked having him so close. He was too warm, and she could smell his scent too. The scent of leather, soap, sweat and virile male. It was a pleasant scent, which was why she disliked him so much.

He seemed nice. Awkward. But nice.

And she didn't do well around nice people. She was too much of a sadist and a bully. If she was really of the mind too, she'd really eat this man alive.

She reached into the bag in her hand and fished out a jar of kosher pickles and wrinkled her nose a little bit and ducked down under the man's arm so that she could move over to the fridge and put the pickles away when the man asked her what her name was.

She didn't answer at first. Waiting for him to tell her his name before she gave him hers. And after a moment or so he seemed to realise what she was doing, she had expected him to get annoyed with her and say something mean. But he surprised her with a quick silver grin before saying, "My name is Kakashi. Now will you tell me yours?"

"Uzu Namikaze."

"That's a nice name." Kakashi mused as he put three more cans away.

Uzu glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and wrinkled her nose again. He was trying to make small talk with her. For what reason she had no idea, but she didn't really feel like talking to him under the circumstances. She just wanted to eat her dinner then go to bed and get some sleep.

She'd save the small talk for a time when she felt more comfortable around these people. Sakumo stood in the kitchen door way, his shoulder leaning against the frame watching the two interact and felt the need to roll his eyes at them. God what were they kindergartners? Small talk wasn't a form of art, it didn't require thought. Just honest answers. So why did the two seem to have such a problem striking up a conversation?

Kakashi tried to engage Uzu in another bought of small talk, asking what her favorite foods were this time. Again she ignored him. And after Kakashi's third try Sakumo decided to step in and save his son.

"Do you like flowers Uzu? I have some flower seeds and bulbs in my shed across the street, and the weather has been nice. If you want I'll bring over what I have and let you go through them so that you can plant yourself a garden."

Uzu stopped what she was doing for a second then nodded her head. "Sure. I'd like that."

"Good. I'll bring them by sometime tomorrow afternoon. What time do you think you'll wake up?"

Again Uzu paused in mid motion as if trying to figure out what to say to him, obviously feeling more than a little uncomfortable about answering him, yet doing so anyways. "Probably sometime between ten and eleven if I end up going to bed before two in the morning. I don't like wasting my day sleeping."

Sakumo's lips curved up in a small smile. "Understandable. It's always so pretty during the day that even I hate sleeping for long. I'd much rather be up doing something constructive."

"Chasing rabbits is constructive?" Uzu asked without thinking then gasped and dropped the jar of peanut butter and slapped her hands over her mouth and gave him a mortified look, embarrassed that she had said something so-so _shrewish_.

Kakashi looked down at her with a bemused expression on his face before turning his head to glance at his dad who was still standing against the wall, an amused smile curving his lips. A soft rumbling sound vibrating deep in his chest before he said. "No not really, but I do like fishing and hunting deer. Chasing rabbits is good for exercise though. Would you like for me to bring you one the next time I chase one down?"

Uzu kept her hands over her mouth and slowly shook her head no, that mortified look still on her lovely face. "Not even if I can bring one to you alive?" Sakumo asked, that amused smile still on his face.

Uzu nodded her head and Sakumo grinned at her. "Alright. I'll see if I can chase down a nice white rabbit for you."

Uzu took her hands away from her mouth a little bit and whispered."I like kitty cats too. So please don't eat any if you run into them."

"I wouldn't dream of it, dear. They're much too furry and wiry to make for good eating-" Sakumo said as he pushed away form the wall and walked over to Uzu and bent down to pick up the jar of peanut butter and set it on the counter before putting his hand on top of her head like he had earlier and ruffling her hair again before saying. "You shouldn't worry about insulting me, I'm old and have a tough skin. You won't be insulting or hurting my feelings with mere words. Now, go sit down and get comfortable while Kakashi and I fix your dinner."

Uzu looked like she wanted to argue, but Sakumo didn't give her the chance. He gently maneuvered her out of the kitchen and over to the couch and pushed her down on it then turned around and walked back into the kitchen and started going through the drawers until he found a sharp knife and said to Kakashi.

"And now you have some information on your mate. Say thank you dad-"

Kakashi sighed and hung his head a little bit. Damn, so that was what the old man was up too.

Match making. How annoying. Still, his father had picked a rather interesting female... He didn't want to say it, really he didn't. But his dad was holding a razor sharp, pointy blade that Kakashi just knew he'd stab him with if he didn't say something. "Thanks...dad."

Sakumo gave him a dazzling, predatory smile. "Oh, your welcome Kashi." He said happily, feigning ignorance. Kakashi's eye twitched a little bit.

The bastard.


	6. Chapter 6

Uzu was relatively quiet during dinner. She didn't eat much of anything either. Something that worried both Kakashi and Sakumo since she was a member of their pack, even if it was by proxy. And it was simply in their nature to feel overly protective towards the female.

Kakashi pushed back away from the cozy little square oak table and picked up his dishes, then his father's and walked out of the dining room and into the kitchen to deposit them into the sink while Sakumo sat at the table and watched Uzu push her food around before taking a bite.

It seemed to be a habit she had. Probably developed when she was a child. She would sit for several minutes pushing her food around, then she would take a small bite. Then she would repeat the process a few more times, set her fork down and take a drink.

Her behavior appeared to border on obsessive compulsive. Which was the only reason he and Kakashi didn't say anything about it. They knew how some people felt about certain...quirks and didn't want to call attention to hers just in case it might embarrass or hurt her.

It was simply their job to protect her and see that she remained in good health. Perhaps provide a distraction of two and some companionship if it was asked of them. "Is the food not to your liking?" Sakumo asked curiously, wanting to know for future reference. Uzu looked up from her plate, a slightly surprised expression on her face.

She looked like she had temporarily forgotten that he was there before she frowned and shook her head no. "It tastes perfect-" The chicken had been fried perfectly, the vegetables were wonderful, the tomato soup was perfectly seasoned. Everything was good.

She just wasn't very hungry. "I'm just not very hungry. I think it's the new surroundings... It doesn't really feel like home to me, so I tend to feel a little-"

"Uncomfortable? Bashful? Painfully shy?" Sakumo supplied helpfully. Uzu cringed a little bit.

Uncomfortable, yeah sure she was uncomfortable. Who wouldn't be under these conditions? But bashful and painfully shy? No one had ever used those words to describe her before, but after her little verbal slip up earlier, she couldn't help but feel bashful and shy.

But not for the reasons that Sakumo might think.

It was because he and his son were in her new home. Sitting with her. Talking with her. She felt so uneasy around them that she kept having to suppress the need to bolt from the room and hide somewhere.

They were both just so overwhelmingly _male_ that she didn't know what to do or say. "Maybe all of those things." Uzu finally said as she started pushing her food around again when Sakumo asked.

"What do you think of Kakashi?"

"I think that I could certainly do worse for an..."

"Mate-claim husband."

"Sure, lets go with that." Uzu muttered under her breath as she pushed her food around one last time and then laid her fork aside. Sakumo chuckled. That wasn't exactly the answer that he had been hoping for, but it was still telling.

Most females took one look at Kakashi and fell in a swoon at his feet. Females, in general, simply adored him. And Kakashi liked the attention, though there was never anything sexual about it from his end. He was simply too cautious around the women to enjoy any of the attention very much. He had too many females lining up to try and snag him as a mate.

But Uzu was different from the other females for some more obvious reasons than others. And it amused Sakumo greatly that she didn't seem to care a whit about Kakashi's physical appearance. Which meant that she would probably fight any attraction that she felt towards his son. Which _again_, he found very amusing.

"Your right. You could do worse. Kakashi, is young for one of our kind. But he's a good leader. He genuinely cares about people. He'll take very good care of you." Sakumo said gently. Uzu said nothing. She didn't know enough about the lupine alpha to comment.

Kakashi came walking out of the kitchen with a hand towel in his hands. He looked at her for a second, noting that she looked rather tired, then looked at his father. "I think it's time to say good night dad. Uzu looks tired." Kakashi said as he set the towel down on the counter inside the kitchen door as Sakumo sighed and slowly pushed back from the table and rose to his feet.

"It was good to see you again Miss Namikaze." Uzu looked up at him and nodded her head slightly.

"Yeah. You too. And it was nice meeting you Kakashi." Uzu said politely. Kakashi smiled at her.

"The pleasure was mine, Uzu-" Kakashi said as his eyes started glowing for a second before he looked away. Oddly enough, he had meant every word. "Get some rest." Kakashi finally said after a moment or so before he and his father walked out of her dining room and out the front door, quietly turning the lock before closing the door behind them.

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Uzu didn't sleep at all that night.

She merely finished up her unpacking, then watched TV then at about six in the morning she took a long hot shower, washed her hair in her favorite lotus flower and tea rose shampoo and conditioner, then got out of the shower and put on her favorite honeysuckle, almond and cream scented lotion then got dressed and fell into her new bed and lay there like a zombie, simply staring out into space. Vaguely aware of the dark shadows on the walls being dispelled by the soft pinkish, orange, and lavender hues of the morning light streaming through her bedroom window.

Finally at about nine thirty, she dragged herself out of bed and took her time getting dressed after looking through her closet and finding a nice long sleeved cream colored shirt with pastel purple and mint green flowers designs on the front and a pair of worn soft blue jeans, before heading down stairs to slip on her shoes so that she could go for a short walk around the neighborhood.

She had just unlocked her door and taken a small step outside when something big and black and furry slammed into her body from the right, and knocked her down. She hit the porch with a dull thud and lay there for a moment stunned.

There was only one person she knew who would jump her like this, and he was a big, furry, black-

She turned her head a little bit and stared into the familiar dark yellow green slitted eyes of her adopted brother, the panther shifter, Iruka. "You've been dying to pounce on me since yesterday haven't you?"

The panther gave her a bizarre parody of a smile and started purring loudly in her ear as it nuzzled her cheek before licking her. "Si-s-ter-" Iruka's rumbling voice sounded in her ear, affection lacing his tone as he alternated between licking and nuzzling her as a man with shaggy dark hair and almond shaped dark eyes came walking up.

"Alright Iruka. You've had your fun and pounced on your sister. Now get off of her and change back and greet her properly." The man said as he stopped at the porch steps and propped himself up on the railing and stared at the large panther pinning her down.

Iruka looked at the man and bared his fangs at him for a second then licked her cheek one last time and slowly got off of her. Uzu lay there for an extra second or so, trying to muster up the strength to sit up again as Iruka shifted back to his human (naked) form and walked down the steps to the man and gave him a dirty look before leaning in and kissing him on the cheek and saying loudly enough for Uzu to hear, "I'm going to go get dressed, then we're going to take you out to breakfast sis."

Uzu blinked and slowly pushed herself upright and gave Iruka a small half hearted smile as the man shrugged off his jacket and handed it to the naked man, muttering something under his breath about 'not scarring the human' and then gave the panther a small push towards the pale yellow house just three places down from where she lived and waited until Iruka was half way there before looking away from him and shifting his gaze to her.

"You must be Kotetsu."

The man gave her a mock suprised look and without missing a beat said. "And you, said that way too fast. I'm afraid to even ask what he's said about me."

Uzu smiled at her adopted brother-in-law. "You should be. He's told me such _interesting _things about you."

"He's told me some interesting things about you too, girly. So don't be trying to mess with my mind for fun. I have more than enough blackmail material on you to protect myself."


	7. Chapter 7

Sakumo was sitting out on his front porch in his wolf form, sunning himself like he often enjoyed doing early in the morning when it was nice and warm, yet not uncomfortably so, when a slight commotion over at Uzu's place drew his attention. He sat up a little bit and tipped his head to the side and watched the scene curiously. His keen senses on the alert for trouble as Iruka pounced on the girl and gave her some nice panther kisses on the cheek to show how happy he was that she was there before his mate walked up and called him off of her before he could smother her in wet, sloppy cat kisses.

The freaky feline climbed off of the girl and shifted back to his human form and gave his mate a dirty look, no doubt planning something nasty for the wolf once they were alone again and walked off after his mate handed his jacket to him.

Sakumo had been waiting for Kakashi to swing by and do his job as a male who had mate-claimed the woman, but obviously Sakumo needed to give the boy a swift kick in the tail to help motivate him to get his ass out of out of bed. Not that it matter much one way or another at the moment since Uzu was among her family, but still. Sakumo was feeling rather impatient with Kakashi and wanted his son to hurry up and get on with things so that he'd have his grand children.

Neither one of them was getting any younger for gods sake.

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Iruka didn't bother walking back to the house, he drove back in a nice little midnight blue four door truck. The kind with the huge cabs where you could stretch out and lay around if you really wanted too, and stopped the truck in front of Uzu's house and rolled down the drivers window and grinned at her before saying, "Okay Kotetsu, lets kidnap her."

Kotetsu gave an aggrieved sigh then walked up the steps and stopped right in front of her and gave her an apologetic look then pulled a doubled over envelope from his back pants pocket and attached it to her front door then leaned down a little bit and scooped her up bridal style. "Sorry sis. Iruka has sort of been looking forward to this day." Kotetsu muttered.

Uzu shrugged her shoulders. Not really caring one way or another that she was sort of being kidnapped. She merely let Kotetsu load her into the truck and stretched out in the back seat and let herself relax as Kotetsu climbed in and shut his door before Iruka pulled the truck out into the road and started driving.

Sakumo shook his head, his silver white fur swaying slightly with the movement before settling as he watched the truck drive by his place. His dark blue eyes narrowing a little bit in annoyance. Damn Iruka and Kotetsu; they were heading into town.

And without Kakashi by her side to back up his mate-claim, Uzu was bound to draw far too much unwanted attention as an unattached female old enough to mate. Sakumo shifted to his human form and felt the bizarre urge to chase down the truck and rip off one of the tires. But instead stretched his muscles a little bit then as pretty as you please, he walked over to Kakashi's house butt naked and kicked in the door intending to tear into his idiot son so that he would go chase the group down and keep Uzu from getting mate snatched by some fool.


	8. Chapter 8

_Kakashi must have seen me coming._ Sakumo thought with a shake of his head as he stared at the back door to his son's house. It was wide open. And Kakashi was strangely absent. Sakumo knew this because he had walked through the whole house, checked every closet, under the two beds (the master bed, and the guest bed) checked the washer and dryer. He had made sure to grab some of Kakashi's clothes to wear and had gotten dressed before finding himself back in the kitchen with the open door.

The boy had gotten damn good an evasive maneuvering in the past fifty years. But that wasn't going to stop Sakumo from putting a boot up his ass if he followed his scent and found him anywhere but with his mate.

He wanted his grand children! And he wasn't above messing with and manipulating the whole damn town just to get them...

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Kakashi had known that there was going to be trouble the second he had spied Iruka's truck tearing down the street with his mate in the back of it as his father had shifted back to his human form. That was why he had gone out the back door. Self preservation instinct had reared it's ugly head the second his father had stepped off of his porch.

Driving Kakashi to make a hasty escape out the back. Partially to escape his father's wrath, and partially to do his job as a male who had mate-claimed a female. Which in turn would make his father _very happy_ and _away_ from him.

Which was just how Kakashi liked to keep things since his father scared the hell out of him.

He had made sure to keep to the trees along the road, and had moved swiftly to keep up with the truck. Tracking it for a quarter of a mile or so before it was turned out onto the main road leading to the center of town. Kakashi stopped at the side of the main road and made an irritated sound.

_Goddamn Iruka._ Kakashi thought darkly

Just where the hell was he going anyways? And with Uzu in the back seat of his truck no less? Kakashi was about to strip and shift so that he could run after them when he caught the loud rumble of his father's car engine and turned his head to see the red colored car an instant before he yelped and dive out of the way to keep the damn thing from almost hit him.

He lay on the ground close to the ditch, his mis matched eyes glowing with a feral light as he stared at his father's car as it came to a stop and the passenger side door swung open. "Get in." His father said in a tone that brooked no argument. No matter how badly the words on the tip of Kakashi's tongue burned to be said and after a moment of silently debating with himself, Kakashi picked himself up off of the ground and climbed into the passenger seat of the car and closed the door.

"Was there a point to almost running me over?" Kakashi asked in a scathing tone that under normal circumstance would have caused warning bells to go off in another shifters mind. Sakumo Hatake however was immune to Kakashi's scathing tone and reached out absent mindedly and smacked Kakashi, hard in the back of the head as he pulled his car onto the main road and started driving in the same direction that Iruka's truck had gone before saying.

"First of all, watch your tone with me. And secondly of all, I was just seeing if you were paying attention." Sakumo said in a light and airy tone as Kakashi fisted his hands at his sides and bit the inside of his cheek, trying desperately to suppress the need to call his father a liar.

The results of calling his father a liar were similar to the one time he had accidentally caught his fathers tail on fire when he had been asleep.

Sakumo had been so pissed at him that he had chased Kakashi up and down the streets of Shifter town for an entire week, snapping and snarling, and trying to rip him apart like a rabid animal. By the end of that week Kakashi had been so freaked out and shaken that he hadn't bothered going home for over a month, preferring the streets instead of living in the same house as his father until the lupine had calmed his temper.

"Where do you think they're going?" Kakashi asked after he took several deep breaths to calm himself. Sakumo glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, noting that Kakashi was picking blades of grass off of his jeans and shirt.

"There are only so many places that they can go too so I would imagine that they are heading to Burks Diner."


	9. Chapter 9

Burks Diner was a cozy little place. Uzu thought as she sat down in the booth across from Iruka and Kotetsu as their waiter set down their menu's. "Here you guys are-" The man said as he handed Iruka and Kotetsu their menu's before turning his predatory gaze to Uzu and smiled. "And here you go sweetheart..."

Uzu took the menu from him with a polite business like smile. Instinctively knowing that this man was dangerous to her and not wanting to encourage him.

He didn't take the hint. Apparently even a business like smile was enough to get his blood really pumping. He leaned down until he was right in her face and sniffed her. His dark eyes flashing gold for a second before he leaned in a little closer and grasped a strand of her hair and purred. "Your pretty-"

Uzu gave him an annoyed look and slapped his hand away from her, causing him to let go of her hair and blink at her as she hissed. "I'm not interested, now get lost." The shifter gave her a dark look for a second before quickly blanking his features and smiling again.

"I could _help_ you get interested." He said in a cheerful tone. But Uzu could detect the softly veiled threat in his voice. Obviously Kotetsu and Iruka could too since they were watching the exchange between her and the waiter with more than a little bit of interest.

Both sets of eyes glaring at the back of the waiter's head as if they were trying to silently will it to explode. Before the door to the diner opened and Uzu caught sight of Sakumo and Kakashi stepping through the door, their eyes scanning the patrons before landing on her.

_Oh dear god kill me now._ Uzu thought as she scooted down in her seat as far as she could and quickly put her menu up in a vain effort to hide herself from the two wolves as they walked up to the table and none too politely shoved the waiter aside and quickly sat down.

Sakumo imposing himself on Iruka and Kotetsu while Uzu was forced to move aside or be squished by Kakashi as he sat down. "Hello everyone, sorry we're late." Sakumo said cheerfully. Making it sound as if he and Kakashi had been supposed to meet up with the rest of them.

Kakashi smiled at Iruka who was making angry low growling noises in the back of his throat while Kotetsu exchanged polite greetings with his alpha and the former alpha while Kakashi got comfortable, placing himself firmly between all of the males in the diner and his claim-mate female. Kakashi wrapped an arm around Uzu's shoulders and leaned in and kissed her cheek hoping that the small display of affection would go unquestioned.

It did. For the most part.

Though Uzu didn't seem to appreciate the display much. Which was perfectly understandable since she didn't know him very well and she wasn't used to his need to touch her and be affectionate with her. "Ew. What are you doing?" Uzu fairly shrieked in outrage as she wiped her cheek with her hand.

If it was even possible for a woman to shriek in outrage without raising her voice.

Sakumo snickered as the woman gave Kakashi a dirty look and sort of tried to move away from him.

Which Kakashi didn't particularly feel like letting her do since he kind of scooted over until she was trapped between his body and the wall. "I'm kissing my mate on the cheek. Is there something wrong with that?" He asked innocently.

Uzu stared at him hard for a second and set her menu aside as she muttered. "Just everything. Since you don't know me."

"Well then lets consider this our first date. Tell me something about yourself." Kakashi said cheerfully. Sakumo bit his bottom lip and held his breath, waiting for Uzu to say something.

"My name is Uzu Namikaze. My favorite color is...too difficult to pin point. I paint for a living. And have several other hobbies. My favorite food is...nothing. My habits are none of your business. And if you _ever_ kiss me again without permission I'm going to shiv you in the kidney. Anymore questions?"

Kakashi blinked. Wow. His claim-mate was a little bit of a tough crowd. Wasn't she?

No matter, he'd worked with less information before. He could do it again.

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I'll probably come back to this later on and make it longer so try not to hate me too much.

And keep an eye open for this chapter to suddenly develop more words.


End file.
